Too Much To Handle
by sofia.estrella
Summary: I wasn't the only one with problems! Apart from my monthly issue, I probably had the least of them. Well, I was being stalked by Mary MacDonald now, if that could count as a problem. Short-story follow-up to my one-shot "Of Love & Chocolate." Remus/Mary ish… okay, not really
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is a continuation of my one-shot "Of Love & Chocolate," so if you haven't read that, you probably should :) Otherwise, this won't make much sense, if any…**

* * *

"Moony, honestly, how many times do I have to apologize?" James implored, trying to lower the book my nose was stuck in.

"Once would be nice," I snapped, swatting him away.

He plopped down next to me on the couch. "I've apologized, haven't I?"

"Not really," I scoffed. "You've done that thing where you say, 'Well, I'm _sorry_ if I wanted to have a little fun… Well, I'm _sorry_ if I didn't know you actually liked her.'"

James furrowed his brow. "Well, I _did_ say I was sorry."

"Just forget it."

"Really, now," Sirius said, snatching my book from my hands.

"Hey, I was _reading_ that!"

"Sure, you were." He rolled his eyes. "That's why you haven't turned the page in twenty minutes."

I scowled at him. "It's not my fault if you two are distracting me."

James sprawled out across my lap and looked up at me with his best puppy-dog eyes. "Moony," he pouted. "Will you _please_ forgive me?"

"Gerroff," I muttered, trying not to crack a grin. But James always saw right through me.

"See?" he cried in triumph. "I knew you wouldn't hold onto this forever!"

I sighed as he rolled off my lap. "Can I have my book back?" I asked Sirius.

He snorted. "I don't think so. Do you have any idea how boring you would be if it weren't for us?"

I laughed despite myself. "Fine, fine. Who has the Cloak?"

James grinned and pulled a corner of his Cloak out of the pocket of his robes.

* * *

"I love house-elves," Peter said dreamily while he stuffed his face with his third treacle tart.

"Me, too," James said, taking another few spoonfuls of pudding.

"How much do house-elves cost, anyway?" Peter wondered aloud, through a full mouth.

"You don't want to have a house-elf, trust me," Sirius said darkly.

James laughed. "You're just saying that because your elf _hates _you."

Peter and I snickered at the offended look on Sirius's face.

"It's not my fault!"

James rolled his eyes. "Sure, it isn't…"

Sirius grumbled something about his family under his breath that everyone was content to ignore.

"On a happier note," James said, earning a laugh from Peter, "when's the next full moon?"

I snorted. "Yeah, 'cause that's a _happy_ discussion topic."

"Happier than the direction Sirius was heading in," James said, playfully shoving the boy's shoulder.

Sirius shrugged and suddenly seemed to brighten up. "Eh, Moony, guess what!"

"Er…"

"I'm getting a lot closer to—" he leaned closer and lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper, "—to being able to transform."

"Really?" I blurted. "That's great!"

"We'll probably be able to manage it by next winter at the latest," Sirius continued. "As long as Peter doesn't keep holding us up."

The shortest of the Marauders blushed as we all glanced to him. "I've been practicing! Really, I have! I even skipped my Transfiguration homework the other night so I could have more time to."

"Yes," James said with thick sarcasm, "because that's what you need to be doing in order to accomplish an Animagus transformation: skipping your _Transfiguration_ homework…"

Peter looked crestfallen and took solace in a slice of chocolate cake.

"Anyway," Sirius said, "watch what I can do." He stood up and shook out his limbs, as if trying to center himself.

"What, are you going to teach us yoga?" James jeered.

Sirius shot him a nasty glance. "I have to focus. Don't distract me."

The messy-haired Marauder leaned back and watched, his expression set to default: a smug half-smile. Sirius closed his eyes and opened them about an entire minute later. He was still one-hundred percent human.

But he seemed to think otherwise. "Well?"

"That's your Animagus form? A stupid-looking bloke?" James said.

Sirius groaned. "I never said I was able to transform completely! I'm just getting closer is all."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "This is what you call progress?"

He rolled up one of his sleeves and shoved his arm in my face. I tried to back away, but he grabbed the back of my head with his other hand so I was trapped. "Look! See the hair? It's thicker and darker now."

"Sure you just didn't forget to shave?" James gibed.

Sirius glared at him.

"But, really," James continued, "what d'you think you'll transform into? A gorilla?"

"Ha, very funny…"

"Then we could call you Monkey-Butt. Or Banana-Breath or something. We really shouldn't single out Moony by only giving him a nickname.

"Fine then, you can be Four-Eyes and Peter can be Chub."

Peter gasped and put down his cake. "I am not fat!"

"You sound like a girl, Chub," Sirius said. "A really annoying girl."

Peter slid the slice of cake away from him across the counter. "At least I'm not a stinking ape…"

* * *

"Remus?" said a quiet and familiar voice. I actually dropped the book I had been reading this time.

_Whoa. Déjà vu. _

"Hey, Lily," I said nervously. I wondered if my smile looked as stupid as it felt. Because I felt like a bloody idiot. She sat down next to me and folded her hands in her lap.

"Umm," she began, glancing around the common room and basically everywhere except at me. "I'm really sorry about… that."

"Oh, it's not your fault!" I said hurriedly. "Completely not your fault. I'm the one who should be sorry… James is _such_ an idiot, sometimes." I said the last sentence a little louder than necessary in hopes that James would hear where he was across the common room. His loud bark of laughter signaled that he heard, but didn't care. Typical.

"Well, that's not exactly your fault either," she said.

It was quiet for a moment. I mean, the common room was loud, but neither of us spoke so it was still unbearably awkward…

"Uh, Lily, I was wondering if—"

"I just wanted to say that—"

We'd both started talking at the exact same time. Bloody wonderful.

"Er, you go," I told her.

She smiled shyly and tucked a strand of hair behind her ears. "Can we just pretend like the whole thing never happened? I mean, it's really embarrassing for me…" She winced at the memory. "All the things I said…" She gave a small shudder. "So, can we, Remus? Just go on like it never happened at all? Completely forget it?"

"Oh, sure! Yeah! Definitely!" Since when was my voice so high-pitched and squeaky? I thought I was done with all that…

She smiled in relief. "Thanks! God, if James ever found out… But he won't because it never happened, right?"

"Nope. Never happened at all."

_I never had a crush on you, never gave you chocolates, you never smiled at me and sat on the edge of my bed. It's not all that easy for me to forget, Lily._

"Great. You're a life-saver, Remus."

"Yep. No problem."

"So what were you going to say?"

I panicked all of a sudden, until I remembered that she didn't _know _what I had been going to say. "Just the same thing. To forget about it. You know, that it never happened."

_It's not like I was going to ask you out or anything. I mean, I wanted to, but I probably would have chickened out anyway. And if I hadn't, you would've turned me down, so… yeah. _

"Oh," she said in clear surprise. "Well, great. We're on the same page then."

"Yep. Completely on the same page."

"Okay… Well, if that's all… I'll see you around."

"Yeah, around. Probably, sometime."

We nodded at each other until she finally stood up and returned to her friends.

That. Was. _Pitiful_. I fell back on the couch and folded an arm over my face. Merlin have mercy on me and my… patheticness. I'm so pathetic I can't even use real words to express how pathetic I am. Now _that's_ pathetic.

"Lily looks kinda glum, mate," said Sirius's voice as his weight fell on my knees. "What'd you do to her?"

"Ow!" I hissed, whipping my arm away from my face. "Why can't I sit on this couch without either you or James being on top of me?"

James let out a low whistle as he perched on the arm of the couch. "Someone's in a mood."

* * *

**A/N: I had way too much fun writing this… So I hope you enjoyed it half as much as I did ;) If you didn't heed my advice in the A/N at the beginning and are really confused: Go read "Of Love & Chocolate"! It's just a one-shot and this story will make little to no sense without that background. Mary will come in during the next chapter and things will get… interesting. Please leave a review!**


	2. Chapter 2

"We have to go to Zonko's after this," James said. "I feel like I haven't pranked anyone in forever."

"Really?" I said. "What you did to me and Lily didn't count?"

He frowned. "I thought we'd moved past that."

I kind of wanted to say something like: How am I supposed to get over that so easily? You _ruined_ any chance I had with her, you selfish son of a—

But I couldn't say that. It would cause more trouble than it's worth.

"Just giving you a hard time," I said, shrugging.

"Lupin?"

Someone had tapped my shoulder and her presence had caused James and Sirius to drop their heads onto the table in an attempt to hide their laughter. I had a pretty good idea who it was.

Mary MacDonald was standing beside out booth, smiling, but it faded as she eyed James and Sirius.

"Oh. Hey," I said, shifting in my seat uncomfortably.

"Well?" she said.

"Well, what?" I was utterly lost as she rolled her eyes at me.

"You _said_ you were going to get me chocolates sometime."

James and Sirius glanced up at me, their expressions gleeful, before erupting anew in vicious laughter.

I hate them sometimes.

"Er, right," I said to Mary. "I guess I did."

"So?"

"You want them now?"

She sighed. "Obviously."

She really had a way of making me feel dumb and generally inferior. And very, _very_ embarrassed. I reluctantly left the table, sent off by Sirius's obnoxious wolf-whistles.

"I hate your friends," Mary said bluntly as I held the door to the Three Broomsticks for her.

"Hey, now!" I said defensively. "That's not—"

"They're so stupid," she continued as we walked toward Honeydukes.

"I'm buying you chocolates, could you lay off the insults for five seconds?"

"Wow, touchy," she smirked. "But you didn't deny that they're stupid…"

I scowled at her. "They can be. On occasion."

"Or always…"

She had stopped right outside the door to Honeydukes and looked to me expectantly. I grudgingly opened the door for her and she stepped inside.

"So, what do you want?" I asked her.

"No," she said, rolling her eyes again, "that's not how it works. You have to pick out something for me. That's the entire point."

I stared blankly at her. "You're serious, aren't you?"

"Yes, Lupin, I am."

"Why are you even doing this?"

She smiled faintly at my question. "To annoy you. And so your friends will give you a hard time." She turned to a display and picked up a cauldron cake. "I know they make fun of me."

I felt myself blush, but she luckily wasn't looking at me. "They don't really… Well, they don't mean anything by it."

She shrugged. "I honestly couldn't care less."

"Well, obviously," I scoffed. "You must know you'll be the butt of all their jokes for weeks…"

"So will you," she added. "Except you'll _care_. And I _won't_."

I was really confused at that point. I think she could tell this just by looking at my face because she grinned. Now my confusion was turning to agitation… I grabbed the first box of chocolates on the shelf and threw some coins at the cashier. Then I thrust the box into Mary's arms.

"There. Enjoy."

"Ah, not so fast, Lupin…"

I had hardly taken two steps toward the door when her voice stopped me in my tracks. Agitation turning to anger now…

"Why are you calling me Lupin? Just cut it out."

"Because your name is stupid."

I stared at her. She grinned again and then turned on her heel and went out the door. Sure, _now_ she didn't need me to hold it for her… I followed after a few seconds delay. She had opened the box and was strolling down the street, up toward the castle. I jogged to catch up to her and when I did she kept her eyes firmly ahead.

"These are pretty good, thanks," she said, popping another chocolate in her mouth.

"My name is _not_ stupid!"

She raised an eyebrow. "Really, _Remus Lupin_?"

"At least I'm not Mary MacDonald!" I shot back at her. "Do you know how many Mary MacDonalds there probably are in the world?"

She was laughing for some reason. Did I look like I was joking?

"No, I don't. Do you know, Remus Lupin?"

"Well, no, but there's probably a lot of them!" I snorted. "Mary MacDonald. What's your middle name, Martha?"

She stopped walking and cocked her head to one side. "That _is_ my middle name."

We looked at each other for a second or two until we both cracked a smile at the same time.

"Your parents like the letter 'M' or something?" I asked her, helping myself to a chocolate from the box. We'd started walking along the path again.

"Evidently." She hesitated for a moment. "What's your middle name?"

"John," I told her, taking another chocolate. These were so much better than the ones I'd given to Lily. Just plain milk chocolate with caramel.

"John?" she repeated. "You've got two ridiculous names and then _John_?"

"My name is _not_ ridiculous!" I argued, shoving her playfully.

"Your name is both ridiculous and stupid," she said, pushing me back.

I rolled my eyes at her this time. That's right. See how she likes it. "Gee, thanks. But your name is both common _and_ unremarkable."

Mary glanced over. "Like me?"

"Huh?"

"Does my name suit me?"

I wondered briefly if she had a certain answer in mind, but then I remembered that I didn't care what she thought of me. "No, not at all. We'd do well to switch names."

"So you think I'm stupid and ridiculous?"

"Yep," I teased. "Couldn't have said it better myself."

"Well, fine then, _Mary_," she said, her eyes twinkling. "We'll switch names. Except I don't think you're common and unremarkable."

We'd stopped walking again, just outside the castle. I didn't know how to respond and I couldn't read her expression as she looked at me. So I ran a hand through my hair, feeling very much like James, and studied the cobblestone at our feet. She was wearing yellow wellies. Who wears yellow wellies? I guess Mary MacDonald does, the very _uncommon_ and _remarkable_ girl that she is. Wait—that could come across as a compliment—it wasn't meant to be a compliment. I made a mental note to never say that to her.

"Well, thanks for walking me home, Lupin," she said, smirking at me.

"Or, er, yeah, sure," I stammered, taken aback. It wasn't until she had gone inside the castle that I realized what exactly she had been implying. "I had to come back anyway!" I yelled after her.

I heard her laugh in the distance. "Sure, Lupin…"

"Besides, you… you had the chocolate!"

Her laughter echoed down the corridors to me once more, but she didn't respond.

Well. _This_ is embarrassing.

I saw a couple options for myself at that point.

Number one: I could sprint back to Hogsmeade, find James, Sirius and Peter—they'd be in Zonko's by now—and tell them that I'd only just gotten rid of Mary and she's so annoying and et cetera, et cetera.

Or number two: I could go back to the common room and avoid their teasing for as long as possible. Knowing I'd regret it later, I chose option number two.

* * *

Barely half an hour had passed before my three friends had me cornered in our dorm room. Well, that was fast. I really should've picked option number one. They all had rather nastily smug looks on their faces. Here it comes…

"So, how's Mary?" James drawled obnoxiously, batting his eyelashes.

"Annoying as ever," I scoffed, rolling my eyes.

"Really?" Sirius said doubtfully. "Is that why you disappeared with her for an hour?"

I groaned dramatically. "I came back here as soon as I could ditch her and I've been here ever since."

James cocked an eyebrow, clearly unconvinced.

I drew in a deep breath. "No, really. I've just been hiding from her, is all."

The two exchanged a knowing glance and then turned back to me with approving smirks.

"I think we're finally rubbing off on you," Sirius said, clapping me on the back.

James grinned. "You've got your first stalker! I'm so proud." He wiped away a nonexistent tear. "Our little Moony's growing up. This is so exciting!"

"Not really," I said. "And she's not stalking me, she's just—"

"Got the hots for you?" Sirius offered. His eyebrows were moving up and down so rapidly it appeared he had lost control of them.

"I don't know. She's just… weird."

James laughed heartily. "Where'd she get the idea that you'd promised to buy her chocolate?"

"Well…" I began, avoiding their eyes. "I sort of told her I would," I admitted all in one breath. Just as I'd expected, they all collapsed in laughter, clearly finding my dilemma hilarious. Thanks, guys…

"You're too polite for your own good," Sirius commented. I couldn't agree more… But, for the record, he's too charming for his own good—to the point of being manipulative… and thus getting himself into a lot of trouble. And James is too confident for his own good. That one's pretty self-explanatory if you've ever seen James on the Quidditch pitch or attempting to flirt with Lily Evans. I actually wince every time he runs a hand through his hair. It's like a reflex. You'd think he had head-lice or something… And Peter—he's too eager to please for his own good. I swear, if we told him to hurl himself off the Astronomy Tower he'd do it. And I wouldn't be too surprised if that's James and Sirius's idea of a prank one of these days… Let's see if our friend will kill himself just because we told him to!

Anyway, I knew that Sirius had a point. But I wasn't the only one with problems! Apart from my monthly issue, I probably had the least of them.

Well, I was being stalked by Mary MacDonald now, if that could count as a problem.

I know I just said that she wasn't stalking me, but… she _did_ track me down in Hogsmeade. That does qualify as stalking. Kind of. Or she might just have a chocolate addiction and she's too poor to buy her own chocolate! That's a nice solution, I'll go with that. Much easier to wrap my head around and with far fewer implications.

Mary MacDonald is an underprivileged addict. Great cover story.

* * *

**A/N: What do you think of Mary? Of Remus/Mary? Cute? Meant to be? Completely dysfunctional? Entertaining? Please tell me in a review, and any other comments you have—good or bad.**


	3. Chapter 3

I was half expecting everything to go back to normal on Monday, since Mary had got her chocolate and caused me enough grief—surely, that was all she'd been after. But then, as I was leaving Transfiguration, Mary was walking in front of me, very slowly. I tried to get around her, but it was no use. James and Sirius smirked at me and ran along, Peter following them, to Astronomy. We had just made it out of the door and into the wide hallway—so I could pass her—when all her books and papers and quills she'd been carrying slipped from her arms and scattered all around the corridor. I groaned quietly. There was no one else in sight to come to the rescue.

Mary sighed and crouched down to begin picking things up. I joined her, cursing my three friends who'd abandoned me in my time of need.

"Thanks, Lupin," she said gratefully. "I'm so clumsy sometimes."

"Yeah—er, you're welcome." I had gathered up a heavy stack of books in my arms and we stood up together. I reached toward her, thinking to give her things to her, but she turned away and started strolling down the hall, content to let me carry them.

I sighed and continued after her. We were going to be late to Astronomy—and I would walk into the classroom carrying her books. I knew what that would look like; I also knew what James and Sirius would say. I nearly shuddered at the thought.

"So," Mary said, glancing over at me. "Astronomy."

That's her attempt at making a conversation? Not that I can talk, considering my own ineptitude, but that was dreadful.

"Yeah," I said, my voice sounding strained. "We're supposed to get our quizzes back."

"Right. How d'you think you did?"

I scoffed. "That quiz was a joke—an O for sure."

She was quiet for a moment and I instantly started backpedaling, worrying that I had come across too conceited and arrogant. Now that I think about it, that did sound like something Sirius would say—they're rubbing off on me. That's not good…

"Well, I mean—it was hard… kind of, but I studied and stuff so I probably did pretty well… I think. How 'bout you?"

She smiled softly, but didn't respond because we had reached the classroom. I gulped as we discreetly slipped inside. I didn't expect to go unnoticed, but I was still startled when Professor Sinistra deducted five points from Gryffindor and the class turned around to gawk at us.

James, Sirius and Peter were sitting toward the front of the room, like they never did, and I wasn't going to walk all the way up there to sit with them—too much unwanted attention. So, I sank down into a desk in the back row. To my continued dismay, Mary sat down next to me. I suppose I did have her books, but… still. I slid them across the desk toward her and she murmured her thanks. I nodded and pretended to be absorbed in what Sinistra was saying, despite the fact that I had no idea what she was saying. I couldn't catch a word over my day-nightmares swimming through my head; most of them had to do with what my friends would say the next time they got me alone. Maybe I _do_ need new friends…

We got our quizzes back and I got an O, as I expected, although I got a point deducted for some reason or another. I didn't really care enough to check why. Mary took her quiz, held her breath as she flipped it over, and flinched. Then she turned it over on the desk and slumped in her chair.

"That bad?" I asked her, wondering how it was that anyone could bomb an Astronomy quiz.

She nodded shyly.

"What'd you get?"

She shook her head. "It's _really_ bad."

"So… a P?" I guessed.

She laughed. "A P _would_ be 'really bad' for you, wouldn't it?"

"You got worse than a P?" I whispered, quite taken aback. Not that Peter hadn't received truly embarrassing grades, but I never saw Mary MacDonald as the type.

She sighed heavily and that sufficiently answered my question. We were now supposed to be reading from our books, or something, so I flipped mine open to a random page and Mary followed suit. The room was quiet, but we were in the back, so I reached over and tried to lift a corner of her face-down quiz.

She caught my hand, stopping me, and raised her eyebrows. I felt my face burn as I withdrew my hand and sat back. "Did you get a T?" I whispered.

She paused for a second and then nodded her head, not looking up from her book. She was staring at a page of text about the moons of Jupiter, but she didn't flip the page for the entire class period. No wonder she's so rubbish at Astronomy.

Finally, Sinistra broke the silence. "Next week we'll meet in the Astronomy Tower for observation. Bring a coat because it will be chilly. Class dismissed."

I gathered up all my things quickly, ready to bolt before James, Sirius and Peter could catch up with me. But then Mary was talking to me and I realized what Sirius meant when he said I was too polite for my own good. I couldn't bring myself to leave as I watched my friends walk past me, teasing me with their smirks and eyebrows.

"I think I should get a tutor," Mary said, hoisting up all her books with great effort. They were pretty heavy, but there's no reason to make _that_ face—she looked constipated. "Whew, these are heavy," she said as we left the classroom, once more side by side. I could almost feel the rumors spreading with every step we took.

"Yeah," I agreed. "You should get a book-bag. It makes them a lot easier to carry."

She frowned for some reason. Merlin, I was just trying to help!

"Anyway," Mary said, "I think a tutor would really help. I need someone who's really good at Astronomy…"

I thought for a moment that that could be practically _anyone,_ as Astronomy has got to be one of the easiest subjects. "Well, Lily probably would tutor you," I suggested. "She's smart at everything, really, and she's done tutoring before, in Potions."

"Oh." Mary frowned again. What am I doing wrong? I swear… "Well," Mary continued after a few moments of hesitation, "Lily's alright, but… she's busy a lot, you know? Because she already does tutoring and stuff."

"Right." I thought for a while. "I don't know what to tell you, Mary. You could ask Sinistra and she could probably find you a tutor."

She rolled her eyes, seeming quite annoyed, and stopped, turning to face me in the hallway. I was totally lost, to say the least.

"Honestly, Lupin," she sighed. "Will you tutor me?" She said the words slowly and clearly as if she was speaking to a child, or someone who didn't understand English. You would've thought it was the tenth time she'd asked, from her irritated tone, which only served to confuse me further.

"Well, er, I don't know, I mean—I'm not the best in Astronomy…"

"You got an O on the quiz."

"I did get one question wrong, and I don't think I'd be a very good teacher…"

"Come on, please?" She seemed less annoyed now as she pouted up at me.

The words were coming from my mouth before I could stop them. "Well… yeah, sure. Fine."

A grin erupted on her face. "Really? Thanks so much! I owe you one, Lupin. When should we start?"

"Oh, uh… whenever you want. I don't care."

I wondered for a moment how it was that I managed to get myself into this one, and then I remembered: oh, right—I'm _polite_. That word was beginning to really not sit well with me. But, as I walked to our next class with Mary, I couldn't picture myself being anything less than inoffensive and constantly walked-on. Is that sad? I don't think it's _extremely_ sad. I mean, I haven't exactly made any enemies the way I'm living life. The only one I have—Snape—is an enemy by association. If I wasn't friends with James and Sirius, he wouldn't care about me. We might even be friendly… ish. Okay, maybe I wouldn't be friendly with Snape if I had the choice… but I guess I _do_ have the choice… hmm. I was actually glad when Mary said something to me, because it saved me from having to sort out my muddled thoughts.

"How about after school?" she offered and it took me a second to catch onto what she was talking about. Oh, right. I'm her _tutor_. Why is it that things like this only happen to me?

And I really did not want to start this after school. Maybe if I could put it off for a few days, she'd forget about it… or get a different tutor that would be more proactive. Hmm. I channeled James and Sirius and tried to think of a subtly rude way to say no, because I knew very well that no matter what Remus Lupin said it would come out sounding like a very inarticulate "yes."

"Well, I have other things I have to do today."

Hey. Did I actually manage to say an entire sentence without using the word "er"? This is fantastic!

"Okay," Mary said brightly. "Another time then."

"Uh, yeah… sometime. Cool."

So much for my brief moment of assertiveness. Now I'm back to my usual form, a pile of mushy submissiveness. Bloody wonderful.

I think I'm the one who needs to be tutored. Maybe I can ask James and Sirius about it.

* * *

**A/N: All the chapters will be pretty short (1.5k – 2k), but the story will be short as well. What do you think of Remus? Should he give Mary a chance? Does he need to learn how to say no? Yes, yes he does. Please leave a few words (or more! More is good) in a review—I want to know what you think!**


	4. Chapter 4

Mary and I didn't interact at all until Tuesday afternoon when I was studying/hiding in my dorm. I was surprised that James and Sirius didn't have much to say about my new friend, but they may have just noticed how miserable I looked and put it off on the approaching full moon on Thursday night. Perhaps they are capable of some sensitivity and mercy. Who knew?

Anyway, I was lying on my bed using my wand to levitate a book over my face. I've been doing this for a while now, and it's quite genius, if I do say so myself, because it prevents your arms from tiring. So, I was lying there, focusing more on keeping the book in place than actually reading it when they was a knock at my door accompanied by someone saying my last name.

I was startled, and the book came crashing down onto my face as my concentration broke. I guess I should've seen that one coming. I removed the book and rubbed at my sore nose as I twisted my head around to see who was responsible, deciding I was in the mood to hex anyone over four feet tall. You know, for ethical reasons I can't hex anyone who's that small. I turned my head to see who had called my name. And there's another thing I should've seen coming.

Mary MacDonald was standing at my open door, looking quite amused. She was awfully short, but certainly not under four feet. So, ethically, I _could_ hex her if I so desired… I sat up, realizing she was upside-down from my point of view, and she stayed, hovering around the doorframe, looking _very_ entertained.

I rubbed my nose again. I hoped it didn't start bleeding. But maybe she's afraid of blood, in which case she'd run away screaming. That would be okay.

"Lupin," she said again, obviously holding back a giggle. "What's up?"

"I _was_ trying to read," I said, sounding more like I was channeling the snooty Lily Evans rather than my confident, blunt best friends. I'll work on it.

"I see that," she said. "But when you get injured reading that's probably a sign that you should call it a day."

A laugh escaped despite my efforts to hold it in. Nice self-control, Lupin. Really.

"Okay, okay," I said. "Thanks for the advice."

"So," she said, taking a few unsure steps into my room. "About the tutoring for Astronomy…"

"Oh, right!" Like I could've forgotten. Please. "Do you want to do that now?"

"Well, we could do it later—you know, when it gets dark. We could go to the Astronomy Tower."

"We don't have an observation test for, like, two weeks, so why don't we just stick with theory until then?"

"But… it's supposed to be a full moon this week!"

"Really," I said dryly.

"Yeah! Do you know what day?"

I told her I didn't. _Thursday. It was Thursday. _But what kind of normal, non-werewolf kid knows the moon cycles exactly?

"Oh," she said, sounding disappointed. "I'm pretty sure it's Thursday night."

"Really."

Mary stood awkwardly about halfway between the door and my bed where I sat, her arms crossed uncomfortably.

"Do you want to study now, a bit?" I asked her, prodding my sensitive nose again.

Mary smiled. "Yeah, I would, but I don't have my books. I'll go get them, and—"

"It's fine, we can use mine."

We sat down on the floor, in the middle of the dorm room, and spread the books and papers all around us.

"Okay, so," I said tiredly, rubbing at my eyes. I was definitely starting to feel drained from the nearly full moon and this little study session was not helping.

"Are you alright?" she asked, sounding concerned. "I can make you some tea, if you want."

"Yeah, just… coming down with something." _It's called lycanthropy_. "I'm fine. Thanks for offering, though. We should study now."

"Okay," she said slowly and I could tell she wasn't convinced. I really hoped I hadn't been negating my statements aloud. She'd probably think I was schizophrenic or something.

I began to slowly flip through the books and notes, realizing that I had no idea how to go about tutoring someone. "Er, what do you need help with?" I asked her.

"Are you sure you don't want any tea?"

"Yes, I am."

"It'll make you feel better," she promised.

"No, thank you," I said firmly, beginning to feel annoyed.

"Oh, come on, I'll make us some." She sprang to her feet before I could stop her and had taken a few steps toward the door when she stopped; I froze at the same time, hearing the same thing.

The unmistakable voices of James and Sirius as they came up the stairs and toward our dorm. Mary turned to me, smiling slightly.

"Well, don't just stand there!" I hissed as I began to shove the books under my bed.

"Lupin, what are you _doing_?" she asked, standing beside me. I grabbed her wrist, pulling her down. She finally caught on and we squeezed under my bed. There was barely enough room for the two of us, not to mention all the books.

"Are we actually hiding from your friends?" she whispered, incredulous and amused.

"Shh!"

"We were only studying…"

"Yes, but in my _dorm. Alone_."

"So?"

"Just shut up!"

I saw two pairs of feet come into the room and pause just inside the door.

"I thought he was up here," James said.

"Must've slipped past us," Sirius added, a shrug in his voice. The two pairs of feet left the room and were gone from sight in a few seconds. I let out my breath. Wait—I was holding my breath? This is _really_ bad…

Mary gave an exhilarated giggle and I swatted at her.

"They could _hear_ you!"

She rolled her eyes. "Do your friends really scare you that much?"

"No," I said defiantly.

"Oh, of course. Not your friends, just what they might say to you. Right."

I scowled because she had summarized my thoughts exactly.

"I'm right, aren't I?" she said gloatingly.

That was when I conveniently remembered that we were under a bed so I could avoid answering that. I crawled out backwards and managed to clunk my head pretty hard in the process. Mary came flitting to my side, asking if I was alright. No matter the good intentions, it was still rather annoying.

"Are you sure you don't want any tea?" she asked yet again.

Not helping my headache.

"You know, Mary, maybe I don't feel well enough to tutor you today."

She nodded. "That's fine. I understand."

Hmm. She had heard what I said, but… she was still standing there.

"Er, so… I'm going to get some rest then."

Her face flushed for an instant. Wait—was she embarrassed? Mary MacDonald has shame?!

"Right, sorry," she said, taking a few slow steps backwards. Then she turned around and finally—miraculously—left.

Thank you, Merlin. Dodged a Bludger with that one.

* * *

The day before the full moon, Wednesday, was miserable—as always. I slugged around to my classes, moaning and groaning about everything.

"Honestly, Moony," James implored that afternoon in the common room. "You have a perfectly good excuse to miss a few days of school once a month—why don't you take advantage of it?"

I sighed. Of course my disease was only something to be taken advantage of, in James's mind. "I miss one day of school as it is, and I don't want to fall behind. Besides, I'm already drawing enough attention to myself."

James rolled his eyes. "You're no fun."

"Yeah, well—" I lowered my voice, "—being a werewolf isn't so much fun either."

James seemed about ready to argue with me, but Sirius cut him off. "Okay, look—he's only trying to say that you work too hard and you should take more days off to rest and recover. We'll help you catch up and no one would notice."

I was admittedly touched, but only for a moment; Peter, who'd been quiet thus far, ruined it rather quickly.

"I bet Mary would notice," he smirked.

James and Sirius snickered and I was back to being less than fond of them. They must've gathered that much from my expression because their grins fell from their faces immediately.

"Sorry, Moony, but…" James began carefully, "…what's going on with you two anyway?"

"It's nothing." They exchanged doubtful glances. "I mean, it's not _nothing_, but… I just got roped into tutoring her is all."

"You're _tutoring_ her?" Sirius asked incredulously. "Merlin."

"Oh, sure, Remus," Peter said huffily. "You'll tutor _her_, but not me!"

I groaned, dropping my head into my hands. "I don't want to tutor anyone! She's… very forceful."

Sirius slapped me on the back and James gave me a sympathetic look.

* * *

The day of the full moon managed to be even more miserable, somehow. The bags under my eyes seemed to keep Mary from talking to me at least. Before dinner, as I walked down to the hospital wing, the usual nerves resurfaced. No matter how many times I transformed I could never get used to it.

This night was no better and no worse than any other full moon. I woke up the next morning stiff and exhausted. There was only one new scratch, a long one down the side of my leg, that was sure to heal into a scar.

It wasn't long before I heard the voices in the tunnel underneath the Shrieking Shack. James, Sirius and Peter. And, even better, I could smell the warm scent of breakfast. I remembered why I put up with them. In the long run, it doesn't matter what they say as long as they bring me food the day after the full moon and cheer me up. And they never fail to do just that.

"Moony?" Sirius called out.

"Up here. In the dining room." My voice was raspy and it hurt a little to talk.

They bounded into the room a few moments later. There was no pity on their faces as they saw me lying on the floor, bruised and bleeding. They just seemed excited to see their friend.

"Guess what," James sang out.

Sirius set a platter of food in front of me on the floor. Eggs, bacon, toast—the whole shebang. I began shoveling food into my face, wincing as I did so.

"Whoa, there. Slow down, mate," James laughed. "Besides, we nicked some pain-killing potion from Pomfrey."

I grabbed the vial out of his hands and threw my head back, ignoring the searing pain in my neck. There was instant relief. I went back to eating. Pomfrey didn't want me to take pain-killing potion after every full moon because apparently there's a 'risk of addiction.' So what? I'll be addicted to the stuff. No big deal. At least I won't be in nearly unbearable pain once a month. Really, Pomfrey. Have a heart.

My friends began recounting the epic tale of their hospital wing break-in, but I was hardly listening. It just mattered that they were there… and that they brought me food… and my potion… I swear I'm not addicted.

* * *

**A/N: I don't really have any specific questions this time, but what do you think of the story so far? Thanks for reading and please leave a review!**


	5. Chapter 5

By the evening after the full moon I was feeling well enough to attend the Quidditch match. It would've been nice to rest, yeah, but I had to be there to support James. At least that's what James said.

Don't get me wrong, though, it was fun. Gryffindor stuck it to Ravenclaw, James was a big hero, but I wasn't able to enjoy is as thoroughly because only a few minutes into the match a short, blonde-haired girl popped up next to me.

Sirius and Peter on the other side of me started snickering uncontrollably.

"Hey, Lupin," she said brightly.

"Hey, Mary." I glanced at her shortly, nodded, and turned back to the pitch, squinting intently at the players.

"You weren't in class today," she said.

"Yeah. I was sick."

"I don't really understand Quidditch that well," she said after a while. "What's happening?"

"I don't understand it that well either," I lied. "You should get James to explain it to you sometime. He could go on for hours."

"I don't want _James_ to explain it to me," she muttered so quietly that I don't think I was meant to have heard. So I took the opportunity to not reply.

James scored another goal. The Gryffindor section erupted into a chant of "Pot-ter! Pot-ter!" After James had sufficiently basked in the glory (zooming around the stadium, both hands up in the air), the game continued. Ravenclaw almost scored. It was kind of sad, actually.

"Burr, I'm cold," Mary said, rubbing her bare arms. Who wears a short-sleeved shirt to a Quidditch match in February? If she gets hypothermia, that's all on her.

James scored again. He's merciless.

Mary was still complaining about the cold. "I can see my breath. Wow, I have goose-bumps. My teeth are chattering. It's pretty cold out."

I nodded. "Yep."

"Look, can I have your coat or not?" she said suddenly.

Surprised, I turned to look at her. She looked back expectantly.

"Uh, no, I'm not feeling well so I'm going to wear my own coat, and you really should've brought one anyway. Why don't you run back to the castle and get one?"

She sighed irritably and after a few minutes of standing there grumpily with her arms crossed she stalked away. Gryffindor won the match easily and when we were walking back up to the castle I saw Mary again. She was wearing someone else's coat—probably one belonging to a shivering Hufflepuff boy that walked next to her. Poor kid. Mary glanced over her shoulder at me then sniffed and turned back around.

What is with this girl?

* * *

"Moony, what _are_ you doing?"

I jumped and turned around. James was assessing me with his usual smirk. I stood up from where I had been crouching at the top of the stairs to the boy's dorm, overlooking the common room. It was Saturday morning and I wanted to get some breakfast. But I also wanted to avoid Mary and she was sitting on a couch in the common room.

"Can I have the cloak?" I asked James hopefully.

"Why?" he asked suspiciously.

"I don't want to run into her," I muttered, looking down at my feet.

"Who?"

Sometimes I want to punch James in the face.

"Mary," I said instead of punching him. "I don't want to tutor her."

"Then tell her that." James rolled his eyes. "It's that simple. March right up to her and tell her that you don't want to tutor her anymore. She'll understand."

"I don't know…"

"And even if she doesn't, does it matter?" James gave me a shove and I began down the stairs, very slowly. He pushed me again and I practically tumbled the rest of the way. Taking a deep breath, I walked casually over to Mary.

"Hey, Lupin," she said, not even looking up from her book.

"Hey, Mary, here's the thing—"

"Are you finally going to tutor me in Astronomy? Or are we just gonna hide under a bed again?"

Well. She's actually pretty mean. "Look, I don't—"

"I have my books right here."

"Great, but I haven't had breakfast yet…"

She pulled a muffin out of her bag and held it out to me. Reluctantly I took the muffin. I could almost hear James sigh in disappointment. No, wait—I could actually hear him. He was about two feet behind me, watching. He muttered something to himself and walked away.

* * *

It was about an hour later when James and Sirius returned to the common room and I was still working on Operation Get Out of Tutoring Mary MacDonald. Apparently, phase one was actually tutoring her. It could've been going better. Their presence, however, did not make things any easier. Mary was listing the major moons of Jupiter and she kept forgetting Ganymede. It was pretty frustrating, so I'd taken to just tuning her out.

Until someone swooped in out of nowhere and swiped the book out of her hands. It was Sirius. Shocker.

"Sirius, come on," I groaned. "Can't you just leave us alone?"

"Oh, really," James cut in. "If she doesn't know the moons yet, she's never gonna pick it up."

Sirius laughed and placed a hand on her shoulder. "It's simple memorization, dear. Make flashcards. You don't need a tutor."

Mary swatted him away, but didn't defend herself in any other way to my surprise. She just looked at me, her eyebrows raised. I looked back at her, confused as ever.

Suddenly James snatched her glasses off her face and put them on over his own pair of glasses. "Wow, you're blind."

"So are you," Sirius snorted. "Lemme see." He grabbed them roughly and the frames bent. "Oops. Moony, fix them." He tossed them to me, but Mary intercepted them. She stood up and whipped out her wand.

The smiles fell from James and Sirius's faces. They backed away slowly, hands held in the air. Mary put her glasses back on and lowered her wand.

"Nice," I said. "The look on their faces… priceless."

She hurriedly gathered her books and stormed up the stairs to the girls' dorm without saying a word, or even so much as glancing at me. I was a little happy to have seemingly (finally) lost her, but I couldn't help but wonder what I did.

* * *

I didn't see Mary until Astronomy class on Monday. We got a quiz back. I tried to read Mary's expression, but it was blank. Must've been pretty bad. Is that my fault? On the way out of the classroom she brushed past me and said, "Thanks for your help. I got an O on that quiz."

I stared after her as she picked up her pace. What?! Who goes from a T to an O with no more than an hour of actual tutoring?

Well. I guess I'm just awesome at tutoring. Cool. Maybe I should tutor Peter. I could probably get him to pay me… or at least pay me in food, he always has tons of it. Later on in the day, I went down to the library to get a book for Potions when I ran into—guess who—Mary MacDonald.

"Lup—uh, Remus, can I talk to you?"

Did she just call me Remus? What is happening?

"Um, sure, what's up?" I awkwardly flipped through the book.

"Let's, uh—" She nodded her head toward the door, "—go out."

"Okay," I said slowly, "but why?"

"I have chocolate," she said suddenly, pulling a box out of her bag. "It's the good kind, too."

"Well, okay, then." We walked out of the castle in a nearly unbearable silence. I could hear our individual footsteps. I could hear McGonagall scolding a first year. I could Dumbledore pacing in his office—actually, that's not true, we were pretty far away from his office.

"Want a chocolate?" Mary asked, her voice seeming abnormally loud.

"Sure." I ate one, wondering if she could hear me chew. We made our way out along the path toward the lake. It was cold and she wasn't wearing a coat again. Of course not. She rubbed her arms and breathed into her cupped hands.

"Burr, it's cold."

"Yep, it's pretty chilly," I said, taking my coat out of my bag. As I slung it over my shoulders she made a small grab for it and then pretended as though she hadn't. I stared at her questioningly.

"Can I borrow your coat? Please?" she asked, biting her lower lip.

"No," I said indignantly. "Don't you own a coat? It's February—you should really look into getting one."

She faced forward and picked up the pace.

"So what did you want to talk about?" I asked carefully.

She sniffed irritably and folded her arms, lifting her chin up higher.

"Er, what's wrong?"

She spun around suddenly and I nearly ran into her. "Oh, so you _do _care?"

"Uh…"

"You know what, Remus?" she cried in near hysterics, while I cowered a few feet away from her. "I've been trying so hard this past week because I _like_ you. A lot. But you can't take a damn hint! I swear, how thick are you? Why did you think I asked you to tutor me in Astronomy? I'm bloody brilliant in Astronomy! If anything, I should be tutoring _you_. It's because of the Astronomy Tower. You know, the most romantic place in all of Hogwarts? Ring a bell? But of course it doesn't because you're an _idiot_."

I gaped at her, wide-eyed and rooted to the spot. Mary's face was flushed and her glasses had slid about halfway down her nose. Then she let out an exasperated groan.

"Why aren't you kissing me?"

I blinked in shock. "What? I don't want to kiss you! You're yelling at me and you called me stupid, like, four different ways…" A sudden thought dawned on me. "Wait… do _you_ want me to kiss you?"

"Yes!" she shouted, throwing her hands up. "We've had a breakthrough, thank Merlin! Why did you think I was yelling at you? You were _supposed _to shut me up with a kiss, but you didn't because you're completely inept."

I was having more than a little trouble comprehending this and it didn't help that she was still insulting my intelligence. "You want me to kiss you?"

"Obviously." She rolled her eyes and stood there, waiting, her arms crossed as she tapped her toe impatiently. "Well…?"

I gulped and stepped closer. She took what appeared to be a cleansing breath and tilted her face up to mine, her eyes slipping shut behind her glasses. I was directly in front of her now and I leaned my head toward hers unsurely. "Like this?"

Her eyes flew open and she shoved at my chest in a sudden rage. "Alright, _Lupin_, your chance is over."

And she's back to addressing me by my surname. _Lovely_.

"You're off the hook now," she continued, loudly enough that I think people were starting to look over from across the lawn. "Are you happy? I don't even want you to—"

I pressed my lips to hers. Okay, maybe 'pressed' is too gentle of a word. 'Slammed' might be more appropriate. It did kind of hurt, actually, with our faces mashed together like that and her fingernails digging into my arms as she clung to me for balance. I had only had a couple short seconds to realize how terribly _awkward_ it was when she shoved me away again. We broke apart and the look on her face was truly terrifying.

"What the hell was that?" she shrieked. "I was trying to tell you something and you didn't even let me finish!"

At that point, I sort of wanted to hurl myself into the Black Lake. "You said you wanted me to kiss you, and I did!"

"Yeah, I did, but you messed it up! It was all wrong! Can't you do _anything_ right for a change?" With that, she stormed away, stumbling through the snow.

"Can't _you_ make up your mind?" I called after her retreating figure. She didn't turn around, only flicked me off over her shoulder. Well then.

* * *

**A/N: What am I doing to poor Moony? :P Soooo what'd you think? Please leave a review! Thanks for reading :)**


	6. Chapter 6

Luckily, Mary avoided me for a while after that. Unluckily, it only lasted two days. I was merely sitting on the couch in the common room—innocent, unsuspecting—when I heard her storming in. Okay, I didn't actually hear her but I could tell from James and Sirius's expressions that she was right behind me. A thick novel fell into my lap.

"Read this," Mary ordered. "And take notes."

With that, she returned to the girls' dorms. Warily, I looked down at the book. It was called _Amaranthine_. There was an intricate picture of a dark rose on the cover.

"First question," James said peering over at me. "What does 'amaranthine' mean?"

"I have no idea," I said, holding the book like it was a dead rat.

"Are you gonna read it?" Sirius asked.

"Of course not!"

Five minutes later we were huddled around the book in our dorm room, taking turns melodramatically reading passages.

"Oh, Merlin, get a load of this one!" James said, excitedly bouncing on the bed, barely able to contain himself. He shook out his limbs, cleared his throat and began to read from the book. "'Your beauty makes the morning sun look like the dull glimmer of the moon.'"

The four of us burst out into laughter, rolling around on the beds and floor. Sirius grabbed for the book, but James stood up on the bed, holding it out of his reach and skimming it eagerly.

"Then she says something stupid, kinda mumbles it…" he summarized, thumbing through pages. "Oh, and now… they're shagging."

"Just like that?" Sirius asked in exasperation. "One cheesy line?"

"Does that work, do you think?" Peter asked hopefully, eyeing the book.

"Of course not!" I snapped, and James swatted him on the head for good measure.

Sirius finally got a hold of the book and flipped through the pages so quickly that I was surprised he didn't tear them. He stopped at one point and began reading. "Okay, so…" He stopped talking and his eyes widened a little.

"What?!" James said, trying to look over his shoulder.

Sirius hurriedly turned the page. "So they've woken up now, and when she wakes up he's like staring at her, watching her sleep… and she thinks that's cute or whatever."

"Downright creepy," James said indignantly.

"And then he says, 'Good morning, love,' and snogs her a bit, and it says that she 'melted,'" Sirius continued. "And now she's going to take a shower." The corners of his mouth twitch up a bit, and James leans in, eyebrows raised. "And she's says, 'Do you want to come with?'"

"Alright, we're done!" I snatched the book away and buried it in my bag, leaving Sirius and James sputtering protests.

* * *

Mary jumped when I dropped _Amaranthine_ into her lap the next day. Yeah, that's right. See how she likes it.

"Well?" she said, raising her eyebrows at me.

"I read it," I said. "Or skimmed it, actually, but I got the gist of it."

"So what's the verdict?" she asked hopefully.

I stood up a little straighter. "It was the stupidest and most ridiculous thing I've ever read. I wouldn't be caught dead doing or saying anything from that book." Hm. That was pretty competent, actually. Very straightforward. Nice one, Moony.

She shrugged and tipped her chin up aloofly. "Fine, then. You'll never get a girlfriend. That's your choice."

"Oh, c'mon," I groaned. "If you expect every guy to act like that, _you'll_ never get a boyfriend."

She frowned as she examined her fingernails. "I guess you're right," she admitted grudgingly.

"Look, Mary," I said, smiling as she paged through the book and then threw it carelessly to the ground. "You're just a little too much for me. I wouldn't know what to do with so much, er, personality."

She smiled, not looking up at me still.

"Honestly, I think you'd be better suited to Sirius," I mumbled, awkwardly patting her arm and then making to turn away.

But she had suddenly locked eyes with me, a smile growing on her face.

"Er, not to give you any ideas…"

She seemed to consider it. "He _is_ way hotter than you…"

"Well, _thanks_, Mary, good to know!"

As she stood and strode purposefully away I found I didn't feel all that bad for Sirius. In fact, I found myself feeling it was something like… karma.

* * *

**A/N: Super short last chapter :P So what'd you think of this little short story over all? Please leave a review! Thanks for reading it to the end, and sorry for the delay with the posting of this chapter!**


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